New Year Surprises
by Kandykane13
Summary: New girl at school, fifth year, havn't thought about where story will go exactly, first fanfic, flames welcome, but I might cry if you do flame me, I suck at summaries, enjoy! Rating may go up later, but no higher than pg-13
1. The First Couple Of Days Are Always The ...

            Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does, but I really wish I did. 

*

It was a new year at Hogwarts. Though all the students who were friends were glad to see each other, there was still much tension in the air because of how the previous year had ended with the death of one of the students. His name was Cedric Diggory, son of Amos Diggory who works for the Ministry of Magic in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department, and he had been killed at the end of the Triwizard tournament by Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort had been revived using an ancient ceremony that used the bones of his father, and the blood of Harry Potter, the one who was the cause of his downfall, to bring him back his strength. Everyone was afraid of Lord Voldemort. Most people didn't even dare to speak against him for fear that one of his followers heard him and he would come home from work one day and find a Dark Mark hovering over his house. There had already been a couple muggle murders that the muggle police just couldn't solve. The Ministry had to alter their memories. The Ministry of magic had been very preoccupied with memory charms because the Death Eaters would always leave plenty of muggles around the scene of a crime in order to cause panic in the minds of many. Nobody traveled much either, for fear of being ambushed. So it came as a surprise when there was a new student arriving at Hogwarts that year. Headmaster Dumbledore invited the girl and her parents to arrive at the school a couple days before the school started so that they could find out what house she was to be put in and give her a tour of where all her classes will be. She had moved to England from Canada about a month earlier because of the increasing danger, her adopted parents had thought it be safer if she were to be going to one of the best and safest wizarding schools in the world. So, after a day at Hogwarts, the family returned home for the few remaining days they had together before school started. To the girl, those couple days flew by like a drop of rain in a storm. She found herself standing on platform 9 ¾ saying goodbye, promising to write everyday. She got on the train and found an empty room to sit in. She waved to her parents as they went back through the doorway of the magical world, back to the world of muggles.

            A couple of minutes went by. She had found herself thinking about if she would make friends easy or not. She started worrying about if the students in her year wouldn't like her. She decided not to think about it and took out one of the textbooks she was to be using this year. The first book she started reading was _The Standard Book Of Spells: Grade 5_. It was sort of interesting she thought. She heard yelling coming from the hallway, and then laughter. A girl with bushy brown hair and brown eyes came into the room.

            "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone else would be in here." She gave a smile. "There's no where else to sit, would you mind if me and my friends sat in here with you?" The girl returned the smile.

            "Sure, I wouldn't mind the company. How long is the trip to Hogwarts?" she asked a bit timidly.

            "It takes until nightfall before we arrive there. It goes by rather quickly for me when I read. So what's your name? I'm pretty sure you're new here."

            "My name is Alexis Silverstone, well that's my real name, but my adopted family's last name is Fenel." Alexis smiled. She enjoyed telling people that she had two last names. "What's your name?"

            "My name is Hermione Granger. You know, I think I've heard of the Silverstone family in a some history book."

            "I don't know anything about the lives of my parents, just their last name. So what year are you? I'm in my fifth year."

            "I'm also in my fifth year, and so are my friends when they finally get here." Just then, two boys walked into the room talking about quidditch. Alexis had heard of the sport before, but didn't know much about it. When the two boys noticed her they stopped talking and starred at her, but they still had smiles on their faces, though they were awkward ones. Alexis noticed that one of the two was just a little taller than her, and she was 5"10'. He had bright red hair and was slim, but not skinny. He had bright blue eyes that were quite nice to look into. The other boy was about the same height as the first one, same build, but he had messy black hair and striking green eyes. She decided that both were quite handsome. After five seconds of staring, Hermione finally introduced her. "Ron, Harry, I'd like you to meet Alexis er…" she turned to Alexis, "which name do you prefer to use?" Alexis stood up and smiled at the two guys who were just standing there staring at her, like they just had to know the answer of what her name was or it would kill them. She offered her hand to the boy with the red hair first, who took it a bit timidly. It was quite a funny sight to see his face match his hair as he blushed furiously.

            "My name is Alexis Silverstone." She also offered her hand to the black haired boy, who also blushed slightly. Hermione noticed her two friends were a bit too nervous to say their names, she thought it best to introduce them.

            "The one with the red hair's name is Ronald Weasley, Ron for short, and the one with black hair is Harry Potter." Hermione smiled a bit, as she loved to see the reaction on people's faces when they found out that they were talking to the Boy-Who-Lived. 

            Meanwhile, Harry was just waiting for Alexis's eyes to move to the scar on his head, as everybody he's met so far has done, but she didn't. She kept eye contact with him and Ron, not at the same time though, that would have been rather hard to do. 'Well… I guess there's a first time for everything,' he thought, but was kind of relieved that she hadn't looked at his scar, it always made him self-conscious. He was mad at himself for not being able to say anything to her though. Why did he have to get that way around girls? When she had turned around to go back to her seat, he took the time to carefully look her over. He agreed to himself that she was pretty, in fact, quite pretty. 'It's a good thing I got over my crush on Cho this summer' he thought with a grin. She had long strawberry blonde hair that was put in a French braid that stopped right below her shoulder blades, blue eyes that looked like sapphires, pale and delicate looking skin, and she was thin, not scrawny thin, but in-shape thin. She was wearing dark blue jeans, where the top only came to her hips, and the bottom of the legs flared out over her shoes. She was also wearing a black shirt with ¾ length sleeves and a v-neck. Both articles of clothing seemed to fit her just right. He looked at Ron and from the look on his face, he also liked what he saw. He took a seat on the opposite side of the compartment. Hermione started talking to Alexis about where she had come from.

            "Well, I've lived in Canada my whole life, but I have visited England before." She stopped talking to pull a small book from her bag that had the title of _An Atlas of Canada and its Provinces_. She turned it to a certain page and pointed to a spot. "I was born here, in Vancouver, British Columbia. When I was eight or nine, I moved here." She again indicated the spot with her finger. "And then a month ago, I moved to England." He could see that Hermione was curious, as always, to know more about Canada, so while she was asking her questions, Harry decided to ask Ron what he thought about Alexis. He looked over and found that Ron was still staring at her. He gave Ron a little punch in the arm to get his attention. 

            "Ouch! What did you do that for?" He didn't say it very loud though, Harry guessed it was so that he didn't draw Alexis's attention towards him. In a whisper only Ron could hear he said,

            "So what do you think of her?" He looked back at Alexis, as Ron whispered back to him.

            "She's gorgeous. And did you see? She looked at me before she looked at you. Ha! I think that's about the first time any girl has ever done that, unless it was an accident," he said mockingly with a big grin on his face. 

            After Hermione had asked all the questions she could think of about Canada, she decided to get Ron and Harry talking.

            "So how did your summers go?" she asked them both.

            "Er… Not bad I guess. The Dursleys decided they didn't want to pay much attention to me this summer after what happened last summer," said Harry. He looked at Ron and the two of them started laughing. Hermione sighed.

            "That wasn't a very nice thing for Fred and George to have done last year," said Hermione in her matter-of-factly voice.

            "If only you could have been there 'Mione," said Ron who was trying to contain his laughter. Alexis, who was a bit lost, decided to ask about what had happened last summer that had been so funny. "Well, you see, my two older brothers, Fred and George, love to play pranks on people, and Harry's cousin was one of their victims last year. Me and my family…"

            "My family and I, Ron," interrupted Ron about his bad grammar. He just rolled his eyes and continued.

            "Well anyway, my family and I, went to get Harry so that he could stay with us for the last part of summer and also come to see the Quidditch World Cup. Well, you see, Dudley, his cousin, was on a small diet."

            "Which meant that he couldn't eat anything unless it was fruit or veggies," said Harry with a grin.

            "So my brothers took this opportunity to "accidentally" drop some toffees on the floor. The little porker just couldn't help himself and ate one of them. To his shock, they were Ton Tongue Toffees, a little creation of my brother's, and his tongue grew to be, what was it, three feet or four feet long? Well anyway, it was one of the most hilarious things." Hermione just rolled her eyes, while Alexis giggled. Harry noted that it wasn't one of those really girly giggles that Lavender Brown or Pavarti Pavil would use. He couldn't really determine what it sounded like to him, but it was nice to hear.

            "What was the reaction of Dudley's parents?" Alexis asked with a smile on her face.

            "I think Ron's dad said that it took him awhile in order to calm them down enough so that he could reverse the effects. My aunt and uncle don't like magic. I guess you could say that they really hated it. They're muggles you see and they're just afraid of what they don't understand I guess." Harry was calming down his laughter now.

            "My adopted parents are muggles too, so I know what you mean," said Alexis with a sympathetic smile. Just then, someone Harry was hopping he didn't have to see for a while opened the compartment door with his two henchmen in check.

            "Did I just hear that we have a new student going to Hogwarts?" He looked at Alexis with a strange look in his steely blue eyes, and he stared at her for a couple of seconds, and then snapped out of it when he realized what he was doing. He blushed a bit as he caught himself and then began talking again. "She's probably a Mudblood. No point in having her here." Alexis noted that Ron was starting to get out of his seat with his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. She guessed that Mudblood wasn't really a nice term to call another wizard or witch during conversation. The boy who had just walked in had bleach-blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He would have been quite handsome if he didn't have that sneer on his face. He had the same sort of build as Ron and Harry, although he was a bit taller.

            "Get out of here Malfoy!" yelled Harry. "Or do you need help getting out?" Ron and Harry's faces were both red with fury. She heard Hermione start talking.

            "Ron, Harry, go sit down. You don't want to have a detention for fighting on your first night back do you?" They both looked at each other, and a bit reluctantly, they sat back down. "Get out of here Malfoy," said Hermione in her you-better-listen-or-else voice. The one they called Malfoy gave one last sneer in Alexis's direction and then left.

            "Who was that?" asked Alexis softly.

            "His name is Draco Malfoy, the most annoying git in the school. If I were you, I'd stay away from him. I heard his dad's a Death Eater, and the two goons behind him were Crabbe and Goyle," said Ron. 

            "What was it he called me?" This time it was Hermione who answered her question.

            "He called you a Mudblood. It's the foulest thing you could call someone who was born a wizard, but have muggle parents. Both my parents are muggle, so he takes great enjoyment in calling me that. You see, the Malfoys, they think that only purebloods should be allowed to learn magic, and that's the same way You-Know-Who thinks, so that's why we believe that his father is a Death Eater, plus there was quite a few rumors about him." Hermione gave a small smile that looked quite sad. Then she got a look on her face that looked as if she had just suddenly remembered something. "Oh! I forgot to ask you, which house are you in?"

            "I'm in Gryffindor, what about you?"

            "We all are too," said Harry with a smile on his face, glad that they had changed the topic.

            After about an hour, they had all become comfortable with Alexis and had happily made her one of them. Harry and Ron were busy explaining to Alexis about quidditch, amid plenty of blushing from Ron as he talked to her, and Hermione was re-reading her textbooks.

            From the way the two boys put it, the game sounded very interesting and she wanted to learn more and more about it. There was a quiet knock on the door and boy that was shorter than her came in. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, but he was a bit chubby. He had a sad look on his face.

            "Have you seen Trevor?" he asked.

            "Sorry Neville," said Hermione in a sympathetic voice, "but do you want me to help you look for him?" his eyes brightened up at her offer.

            "Thanks Hermione!" he said with a smile on his face. He looked over at Alexis.

            "Neville, this is Alexis Silverstone. She came here from Canada." She turned to Alexis who was smiling sweetly at Neville. "And Alexis, this is Neville Longbottom."

            "It's nice to meet you," said Alexis in a voice that went with her smile. They shook hands and he smiled back at her, blushing.

            "It's nice to meet you too," he said warmly.

            "Come on Neville," said Hermione, "Let's go find Trevor before someone like Malfoy does." And they both left together.

            "Who's Trevor?" asked Alexis curiously. Harry and Ron started laughing.

            "Don't get us wrong or anything, Neville is our friend, but he's also one of the most forgetful people in the school. Trevor is his toad that he seems to lose all the time," said Harry, who could was trying to calm down.

            "So what was your old school like?" asked Ron, with his face surpassing the redness of his hair, if that was possible.

            "Well, it was in a small city, where my parents and I had lived. It wasn't the biggest school around, but all the wizards and witches from around the area went there. The good thing about living close to your school is that you could either go home or stay in the school. I liked it better at home though. There were about five hundred students. The Muggle School was out of town. They had about the same number, if not more students that went there. The school I went to was camouflaged using magic. It looked like an ordinary school to any muggle on the outside, and if they looked in the windows, it would still look normal. But when you went inside, it was chaos. There were all sorts of strange creatures inside. One of our teachers was even an animagus who loved to teach his class in his animal form, which was a griffin. It was the type of school where everyone knew everybody else's name, no matter if you were the quietest or the meanest kid in school. It was a nice place to be, but I'm sure I'll enjoy Hogwarts." Alexis smiled at Ron who had to look away or he would have to go wash his face with cold water because it nearly felt like it was on fire. "I did get a small tour from Headmaster Dumbledore, but it was still rather confusing with the moving stairs and all. I don't even think I remember how to get to the common room from the Great Hall. You two and Hermione will have to help me out a bit to get to all my classes."

            "What's your favorite class?" asked Harry, since it didn't look like Ron would be saying anything until the colour of his face returned to normal.

            "Well, back in my old school my favorite class was potions, I guess." Ron and Harry just stared at her.

            "You mean you actually like potions? Well, wait until you meet the teacher, then you might not be so sure about that," said Harry with a disbelieving look on his face.

            "The potions teacher's name is Severus Snape, and he's the meanest and rottenest teacher in the whole school. If you still like potions after his first class, then I'll eat my shoe!" exclaimed Ron. 

            Alexis had asked more questions about the other teachers she had, when the trolley lady came by selling sweets. Harry and Ron bought themselves some chocolate frogs, while Alexis had bought a banana cream lollipop. As they ate their chocolate frogs, they both noticed Alexis sucking on the lollipop while reading another book. She didn't even realize that they were staring at her. The only thing that broke their trance was when Hermione finally returned and walked in front of them to get back to her seat. They had both noticed that Hermione had seen them staring and they both turned red.

            It was starting to get dark, so they all got their school robes on. Both Ron and Harry were a bit sad about not being able to see her figure because of the baggy robes, but they figured it was for the better if they actually wanted to get work done. 

Now it was dark and the train was starting to slow down. When it had finally stopped, the four of them got their carry-on bags and stood outside. It was raining. To Harry, it seemed as if it rained every year on the first day. Through the darkness and rain, Harry was able to make out Hagrid's large frame in the crowd of students around him. They went up to him, with Alexis following the three, and said hello.

            "How you doing today? Hope your staying out of trouble," said Hagrid in his deep, heavily accented voice. "It seems you have a new friend?" He turned to Alexis and said, "What's your name?"

            "My name's Alexis Silverstone," she said with a smile on her face. It felt like she had said those words about a hundred times today, but she had figured that she was going to have to. "You must be the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Harry and Ron were telling me about you on the train. It's a pleasure to meet you."

            "And a pleasure to meet you too." He turned to the others. "Well, I'll see you lot back at the castle, but right now you better get out of the rain before you get yourselves sick." So they said they're good byes and went off to find a carriage that was empty. They could hear Hagrid bellowing in the background for the first years to go to him. 

            They arrived at the castle and were led into the Great Hall. She was looking at the ceiling. It was black, but there was rain coming down, but just before it reached where the students were sitting, it vanished. She sat down between Hermione and Neville. She was also introduced to some more of the students in her house. She met Ron's brothers, Fred and George, who were in their final year in Hogwarts and identical twins, Ron's younger and only sister Ginny, and not very surprisingly they all had red hair, she also met Seamus Finnigan, who had light green eyes and sandy blonde hair, and Dean Thomas, who was black and seemed to say cool every time he got the chance. Hermione had warned her while they were in the carriage about Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil, and she was glad she had received that warning because they had come up behind and asking her how she kept her hair looking so shiny, how did she get the braid to look so perfect, and even more questions about stuff like that until Hermione shooed them away with the excuse that Dumbledore was going to start talking any time now. And about a minute later, he did. With his slow, but steady voice he addressed the students.

            "Welcome back everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your summer. Even in a bleak time like this, it's not good for a person to always be serious." His eyes were sparkling like those of a child listening to a story. He talked more about the current situation, and then finally arrived to the point about the first years. He sat back down again as the sorting hat began its song. Then first student came out and sat down. The hat was put on his head and it pondered about which house to put him in. He seemed to have made up his mind and yelled "Gryffindor!" The whole Gryffindor table started cheering and clapping. When all the first years had been sorted, Dumbledore stood up again. "Alright then, now on to the changes of the school. First off, I'd like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mr. Willowburn." The crowd clapped, but everyone knew that the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was cursed. There had been a new one every year Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been there, and only two of them had actually taught them anything, and one of those two had been working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "Settle down, settle down. We also have a new student in our midst. Alexis, will you please stand up?" Alexis swallowed, took a deep breath, and stood up. She was rather nervous about all the people staring at her. "Ah yes, there you are, everyone, this Alexis Silverstone. She's moved here from Canada. She's a fifth year and has been placed in Gryffindor." With that there was a loud cheer from the Gryffindor table. Alexis sat down embarrassed, but still smiling. "Alright, well I think I've talked enough, so let's start the feast." He snapped his fingers and food and drinks magically appeared on the tables.

            When they had all finished eating, the prefects led them up to their houses. They had stopped in front of a portrait with a rather large woman in a pink dress. The prefect told to the portrait the password to get in to the common room. The portrait swung open.

            "Did everyone hear that? The password is Spooky Paws. If you didn't hear it, I'm not going to repeat it again, you'll just have to ask someone else." They all walked into the room, Alexis saw that there were squashy armchairs, a warm fireplace, and tables placed around the room. "The stair case over there leads to the dorms, girls on the right, boys on the left. Go up the stairs and the doors are labeled according to what year you are. And remember, no boys in the girl's dorm, and likewise for the girls. That's about all. Breakfast starts at six thirty and continues until classes start. Your luggage is already in your dorms in front of your beds. Now go to sleep, tomorrow will be a long day." He left to go up to his bed and sleep, and everyone followed. Hermione and Alexis said goodnight to Ron and Harry, with more blushing from the two, and went up to their dorms. Alexis noted that the stairs wound around the tower. All the first year Gryffindors left, then the second years, third years, fourth years, and finally she, Hermione, Lavender, and Pavarti went into their room. They talked a bit and then went to sleep.

            In the morning, Hermione and Alexis came down, prepared for class, and joined Harry and Ron for breakfast. They were given their timetables.

            "Oh no…" moaned Ron, "stuck with Slytherin for Potions and Herbology again." Alexis had read about the different houses in the book _Hogwarts: A History_, and she knew what kind of wizards came out of Slytherin. "And even worse, we're stuck with them for two hours after lunch, in Potions class." Ron moaned again and put his head in his arms on the table. 

            They had just finished up their breakfast when it was time to go to their first class, which was Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid came up to them as they were walking across the grounds over to his hut. 

            "Welcome to your first class of the year!" bellowed Hagrid. "Today we'll be learning about a very special type of dragon. They're called Midgee Dragons. You'll see why they get their name." He turned around and brought out a small bronze lizard that looked like a miniature dragon. It perched on Hagrid's arm like some sort of bird. It was only about the size of an adult's head. "This here is the biggest they get. Little Flamer here is an adult. He can breathe small amounts of fire, but only for protection. Quite a few people keep them as pets." He turned around and brought out another Midgee, this one was a deep red. This is a female Midgee, and her names Scarlet. As you can see, she's a bit smaller than Flamer, but the females can breathe fire longer than the males can. They only breathe fire to protect their young." Hagrid's eyes flashed and he grinned towards his friends who were in the front of the crowd. Instantly they knew what was coming. "You'll be taking care of some for the next couple of weeks. Follow me and I'll take you to them." He moved them towards a large metal box that appeared to be heating on hot coals. They could see that inside the box was a whole bunch of eggs. "Get into a group of four and then I'll give your group an egg. They've been heated long enough so that when I take the egg out of the box, the eggs will hatch in a couple of minutes." Everyone paired up into groups of four and then Hagrid handed out the eggs. "Oh, and I forgot to mention, the Midgees won't be able to breathe fire until they're at least a year old." Everyone sighed in relief. The egg that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Alexis received was a golden colour. It was quite beautiful to look at. They waited for six minutes before the egg started rocking and then cracked open. Out popped a golden head from the broken shell. Other groups' eggs started hatching as well. There were quite a few "Ohhh's" and "Ahhhh's". The four looked around and found that they were the only one who had a golden dragon. "Alright now, it's time for you to feed them." He handed out buckets of chopped up raw meat. They had just finished feeding the Midgees when Hagrid came over to see their Midgee. "You know, the golden ones are the rarest. You're lucky to have gotten one. The golden ones are considered to be the queens, just like with large dragons." He gave them a wink and walked off to look at the other groups' Midgees. The bell rang and they were off to the next class.

            Finally it was lunch. The four of them had had a good first day back to school. But then when they were eating, a shadow fell upon them. They turned around to see who it was. It was Malfoy.

            "Well, if it isn't Potty, Weasley, Granger, and the new girl," he turned to Crabbe and Goyle, "what was her name again?"

            "Get lost Malfoy. We already have to see you for two hours in potions today, we really don't want to see your ugly mug at the moment," said Harry.

            "Well, well, if I didn't know better, I'd say that Potter was sticking up for his new girlfriend." Malfoy sneer became even larger. Both Harry and Alexis blushed, but the comment hadn't bothered them too much. He started walking away after that remark. "See you in Potions class." And he waved back at them, that stupid sneer still on his face.

            "I'd like to tear him limb from limb," said Ron as he wrung his napkin in his hands.

            "Don't we all," replied Harry in an exasperated voice. Just then the bell for class rang. Ron, Harry, and Hermione sighed. It was quite obvious they didn't want to go. They headed downstairs to the dungeons. They walked into a classroom that had jars of strange things all along the shelves on the walls. At the front of the room there was a desk where the teacher was sitting. He had black greasy hair, and black eyes to match. Alexis figured that he didn't smile much.

            "Hurry up and sit down!" he yelled as everyone found their seats. "Today we will begin learning how to make a Copy Cat potion. Can anyone tell me what his does?" Only one person in the class raised their hand. Snape looked right past Hermione. "Didn't anyone read about the Copy Cat potion like I asked you to?" His gaze searched around the room and his eyes fell on Alexis. "Why don't you tell me what the Copy Cat potion does miss Silverstone?" She jumped a bit. Ron and Harry were right, even if he just looked at you, you got nervous.

            "The Copy Cat potion is used so that a person who drinks it creates a copy of himself or herself so that they could do twice as much work. The potion lasts for half an hour. After that, the copy just disappears." She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

            "Very good miss Silverstone, but why didn't you just raise your hand when I asked the question the first time? Five points from Gryffindor." He turned around with a swish of his black robes. The Gryffindors grimaced. They didn't blame Alexis, he probably would have taken five points off anyway. Meanwhile the Slytherins were grinning. Finally, class was over, with ten more points taken away from Gryffindor because Neville had accidentally made his potion catch on fire. The four tried their best to avoid Malfoy, and succeeded. Since classes were now over for the day, they decided to just hang out in the common room until supper. They all flopped down in a chair and started to relax.

            "I bet Potions would be much better for everyone if Snape didn't always have a stick up his ass," said Ron. The other three gave a small laugh. 

            "I don't think he really expected Alexis to answer is question. Did you see the look on his face?" said Harry and they started laughing again. They all returned to the common room to do the homework that Snape had assigned for them before they went down for supper. Tonight, supper was a little different. They were given spaghetti to eat. It was quite amusing to Alexis, Harry, and Hermione because most of the wizards and witches at Hogwarts had never eaten spaghetti before and were having a hard time learning. Hermione helped Ron by showing him how to spin the noodles around his fork with the help of his spoon. Harry and Alexis showed anyone else who was having trouble. After an eventful meal, the four decided to go back to the common room to play some games. Alexis and Ron played wizard's chess while Harry and Hermione watched. Ron had won the first game, but it had been close. Next it was Harry and Hermione's turn. Hermione won when Harry had gone offensive and forgot about defense. After that, they play exploding snap. When they were done playing games, they sat in front of the fireplace and talked until ten o'clock, and then they went to bed. 

            While Alexis was still half awake, she remembered the comment Ron had made earlier. 'Maybe I should get him some salt to put on his shoe' she laughed to herself before she fell asleep.

                                                                                                *

Wow! This is the first fanfic I've ever written, before it was just original stuff. I started this fanfic about two weeks before yesterday at eight o'clock at night and continued on it until one o'clock in the morning. Then I got writer's block and I just finished it today. I really tried to keep the character's personalities with them and not give them ones that help my purpose (Muahaha!). I don't have a clue when I'll add the next chapter because I've done a really stupid thing for this story, I haven't thought of a good plot yet (what? You didn't think the whole thing would be about the new girl did you? Silly person), so I'll try and think of a good one (if I'm lucky, it might not be one that's already been used!) I'm not sure, but there might be romance in this story (I haven't decided yet), but there will definitely be some crushes on different characters *cough*****new girl*cough*. I'll love any feedback and if you have any suggestions, don't be afraid to share them (unless you have some sort of phobia where you can't share ideas without having a nervous breakdown), because it might help me to get the next chapter up faster. All right, enough of my wild and incoherent ramblings, I'm going to shut up now. Remember to take a look at my other story _Light of the Dark, _it's my pride and joy. (Shut up already!) All right, all right I'll shut up now, but that means you do to! (I do?) Yes (Well… I guess it's ok if you talk for a little longer) No way! I'm going to go read now (No! Keep talking!) No! (Yes!) No! And you can't make me *sticks out tongue to herself in a mirror, quickly saves story and closes Microsoft Word before her alter ego can protest*


	2. The Ball

            Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I wish I did.

                                                                                                ~*~

The next week went a little faster for the four, as there had only been one other Potions class. The class that they had all been waiting for had finally arrived on the Thursday. That class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were all wondering how this Professor Willowburn would be as a teacher. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Alexis, and the rest of the fifth year Gryffindors, along with the fifth years from Ravenclaw, walked into the bright classroom. There was an iron chandelier that hung from the ceiling, giving additional light to the room with its many candles. There were windows that were stain glassed with many colours. On the podium at the front of the class stood the teacher. He had dark red hair and wore silver framed glasses. He was tall, lanky, and pale. He wore deep green robes that shimmered in the light. It appeared as though he was in his early thirties. He was busy arranging the papers on his desk and had not appeared to have noticed the students walk in. They all took a seat and quietly waited for him to start speaking. After a minute and a couple of students clearing their throats, he finally looked up and scanned the students looking at him. He took a breath, straitened up, and started speaking.

            "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, grade 5. My name is Professor Willowburn and I will be your teacher for this year, and hopefully next year too. I know that last year you were learning about curses and that some of you have even learned to block one of the Unforgivables. This year, we will be learning more about other curses that you didn't go over last year. You will be learning how to block them and how to use them on an enemy. Some of these curses can be quite dangerous, so if I see any of you using them on any of your piers, you will be punished. Before we start off with the cursing," and he smiled weakly at this, "I want to know how much you remember from last year, so I'm going to give you a small test. You have the whole class to write it. You may begin as soon as I hand it to you." The whole class groaned as he handed them their papers. They groaned even more when they counted the number of pages of this 'small' test. It was 14 pages long, double sided. Most of the students had to stay after the bell in order to complete it, including Harry and Ron. Alexis and Hermione walked out of the classroom after they handed their tests in.

            "I guess that's what they get for not studying enough during the summer," laughed Hermione. "In your old school, did you learn about the Unforgivables last year?"

            "Yes we did, but we never learned how to block any of them. I thought nobody was allowed to use the curses, so how was it that you could learn to block any of them? Wouldn't your teacher have gone to Azkaban for using any of them on you?"

            "About that," Hermione started saying slowly, "our teacher last year was not your regular kind of teacher." Alexis gave her a puzzled look. "He was an escapee from Azkaban and was disguised as the teacher we were really suppose to have last year by using Polyjuice Potions to keep from being recognized. Even though he wasn't really a teacher, he did teach us a lot of useful information last year." Hermione had a thoughtful look on her face. "I think that he was probably a better teacher than the one we were suppose to have." They walked to the library to do some research. Unfortunately, on their way there, they came across Draco. Crabbe and Goyle weren't there with him though. He was leaning against the stone wall watching them come towards him. 

            "Well, if it isn't Granger and the New Girl, Alexis I believe it is right? I'm glad you two came along, as I was getting rather bored," he said smoothly. He grinned one of his malicious grins and walked towards them. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

            "Get lost Malfoy, we don't need to see your ugly face with its stupid sneer right now," said Hermione with impatience. Malfoy, whose pride was in his looks, stopped grinning and developed an angry look on his face. 

"Mudbloods should watch what they say to the purebloods or else they may find themselves in a spot of trouble." He spun on his heal and walked quickly away.

"I'd love to get him in a spot of trouble," she said through her teeth with fury, fists clenched.

"You shouldn't let him get to you like that, that's what he wants," said Alexis soothingly. Hermione looked at her, a bit amazed. After all the encounters with Draco that she had had since she arrived at Hogwarts a couple of days before, she hadn't even flinched at any of the things he had said to her. 'She must have a great deal of patience,' thought Hermione. They continued to the library and started their homework. Harry and Ron joined them soon after. Ron was complaining about how could they have known to study about the curses they had done last year. 

"Well," started Hermione in her know-it-all voice, "maybe you should have paid more attention last year. You know that we are suppose to know those curses for a reason, not just so that we can forget them right after we stop learning about them."

"I did have other things to do during the summer than just sit around studying all the time!" exclaimed Ron with some nasty looks from Madam Pince, the school librarian. She walked over to where they were seated and said,

"A library is no place to socialize. If you want to talk, go somewhere else and stop disturbing the students who are actually trying to study," she scolded. Ron murmured an apology and remained quiet for a long duration. After they finished their homework, it was time for supper. They walked into the great hall and took a seat. Before their supper appeared, they could see Professor Dumbledore waiting for all the students to have a seat so he could speak. When the crowd was silently looking at him, he started speaking.

"All the teachers and I have been talking about this matter for the past couple days, and for the first time in over a decade, we have decided to have a Welcome Back ball to try and raise everyone's spirits." There were a bunch of 'whoops' and 'hollers' of joy from the crowd. Dumbledore waited until they were silent again before he continued. "This ball will be for the fourth years and up only." There was some 'boos' from the younger portion of the crowd. "The ball will be held next Friday. It will start at eight in the evening and end at eleven. I hope you all have brought your dress robes. For the younger students, you will be allowed to have small house parties while the dance is going on, just so that it's fair." Everyone was now happy at this announcement. Dumbledore raised one of his hands and waved it in the shape of an arch, making food appear on the tables. Tonight's special was another new dish. Tortellini and grilled chicken breasts in a sauce that contained Caesar dressing and lemon juice was the dish served. It was definitely much easier to eat than the spaghetti they had had on their second night back at Hogwarts. Everyone thought it was delicious. 

After they finished eating, the four went back to the common room to talk about the ball.

"The first ball we attended at Hogwarts was the ball for the Tri-Wizard tournament last year. It was also the only ball we've had since. It's usually held in the great hall. All the chairs and tables are moved to the side of the room so that there is room to dance. Last year, the Weird Sisters played, I wonder who is going to perform this time? Anyways, last year there was a garden that you could go and sit on benches, and the hedges were high enough so that you could have partial privacy. It was quite beautiful." Hermione continued to put in great detail the other nice things about the ball the year before. Harry and Ron were becoming bored of all the details from the Yule ball. 

"Last year's ball was boring, you only had fun because you went with Viktor Krum. Oh, and by the way, how is old Vicky?" said Ron grinning. Hermione blushed.

"I hardly saw him over the summer and I didn't just have fun because he was there!" she exclaimed while her face grew even more red. She calmed herself down and turned away from Ron and Harry, who were doubled over with laughter, with an exasperated "Boys!" while shaking her head. She turned and went back to talking to Alexis. "So what are you going to wear to the ball?" she asked.

"I don't really remember which one of my two dress robes I packed, so I'll just show it to you when we go to bed. What about you, what are you wearing?"

"I think that I'll just wear the same thing I wore last year. It was a periwinkle-blue robe that was such a soft material. And I had my hair up and smoothed back with this special hair gel. Besides," she said quietly, "I used up my money that I had saved during the summer to buy some new books and I'm saving the money I have now for Christmas." Alexis smiled and asked,

"So who are you going to go with this year?" Hermione gave a thoughtful look.

"Hmmm… I'm not sure. I guess I'll just go with whoever asks me first. What about you?" Harry and Ron moved in closer to hear her answer.

"Well, I don't really know that many guys in the school, so…" she thought for a moment and Harry and Ron moved even closer, hoping she might say one of them, "I guess I'll just go with…" There was a crashing sound from right outside the doorway to the common room. The four of them ran and moved the portrait so it opened and went through it. It was just Neville, who had dropped all of his homework.

"Jeeze Neville, we thought something bad had happened out here," said Harry as they all bent down to help Neville pick up his dropped things.

"Sorry," said with an innocent smile, "I guess I was just carrying too much for me to hold. Thanks for the help." They helped him carry his things to a table. Now other Gryffindor students started coming in through the portrait hole. The room had gotten quite loud. All the older students were talking about the ball, while the younger ones were discussing what they were going to do for the house party. Lavender and Parvati came over, bubbling with excitement.

"Guess what!" squealed Parvati. "Guess who just asked me and Lavender to the ball!"

"Who asked you to the ball?" said Hermione with as little enthusiasm as possible. Parvati and Lavender squealed together.

"Logan Bysanter asked me and Michael Hawkson asked Lavender!" Logan and Michael were sixth years in Hufflepuff, who obviously had a strange taste in females, in Hermione's opinion.

"Wow… We're just so happy for you…" said Harry, who had gone to the ball last year with Parvati, and Ron had went with her sister, Padma. Parvati and Lavender ran away excitedly to go decide what they were going to wear to the ball.

All throughout the week preceding the ball, Ron and Harry had been wondering whom Alexis was going to go to the ball with. They would of asked her to go themselves, but they figured she already had someone to go with. The day of the ball had finally come. Harry had asked Lisa Turpin, a girl from Ravenclaw in his year. Ron had yet to find anyone who wanted to go to the dance with him and was quite miserable about it too. They found out that Hermione was going with Terry Boot, a boy from Ravenclaw who was the same age as her. When the day of the ball had finally came, and all the classes for the day were over with, Ron and Harry finally decided to ask Alexis whom she was going with. They had both noticed that she had seemed a little sad that week; they figured she was going with somebody she didn't really like, but didn't want to back out of it. They found her when she was walking back from the library at about half past six that evening. They walked up to her smiling, and she smiled back weakly at them.

"Hey you guys," she said quietly. "I'm going to go start getting ready for the dance. Want to join me?"

"Sure," said Harry and Ron in unison.

"Have you found a date for the ball yet Ron?" she asked while staring at her feet.

"No, not yet. I don't think there are any girls left who aren't disfigured in some way, and I'm not up to asking any of them to the ball," he replied quietly, also looking at his feet. Harry noticed that Alexis seemed a little more upset at the last comment Ron had made.

"So Alexis, who are you going to the dance with?" asked Harry enthusiastically. Alexis looked up at him; she had tears in her eyes.

"I'm not going with anybody. I thought you knew that already. Nobody even tried to ask me… I guess they didn't want to go to a ball with someone who was disfigured like me." A single tear streamed down her face and she looked away from Ron and Harry, and she started running away from them. They just stood there looking amazed. 

"I didn't know she wasn't going with anyone. I wonder why nobody asked her?" said Ron. He was clearly shocked.

"I guess nobody asked her for the same reason neither of us asked her, they already figured she was going with someone else. We better go after her, come on." They ran in the direction they saw her go. She was headed towards the Gryffindor tower. She had already made it to the common room. They just saw her as she ran up the stairway going to the girl's dormitory. They ran into Hermione, who was looking towards the direction Krystal had ran, and she was about to go after her when Harry and Ron ran up to her.

"What's wrong with Krystal? She just ran through here crying. I don't think I've seen her look so sad. Was it something you two did? Well, spit it out!" Ron looked at the floor with guilt on his face. Harry started explaining to Hermione what had happened.

"Well, of course she didn't have anyone to go with, I told you that last night when you two were playing chess and Alexis had gone to the library because she had forgotten something there! How you have been so mean Ron? She thought you already knew that she wasn't going and she wanted you to ask her!" Hermione slapped her hand to her mouth. "Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that. Shit!" Ron was looking quite surprised for two reasons. One because Alexis actually wanted to go to the ball with him, and second because he had never heard Hermione swear before. Well, there was always a first time for everything.

"Hermione, will you do me a favor?" asked Ron.

"Sure, I guess, what is it?" she said quietly.

"Could you please get Alexis so that I can talk to her? There's something I want to ask her." She nodded and went up the steps to the dorm room. She walked into the room with the number five on it. Alexis was sitting on her bed. She wasn't crying anymore though, she just looked miserable. She looked up at Hermione when she came in and gave a small smile.

"Hey Hermione, are you going to get your dress robe now?" she asked quietly. Her voice was also trembling a bit.

"I wasn't going to do that for about twenty more minutes. I came up here to tell you that Ron wants to talk to you." 

"Alright… Is he in the common room?"

"Yes, he's down there waiting for you." Alexis got up and walked with Hermione down the stairs. They reached the door leading into the common room and Alexis paused, took a deep breath, and opened the door. There was no one else in the common room, as most people were still downstairs eating supper. There was only Harry and Ron. They walked down the stairs that led to the ground part of the common room. Hermione walked over to the portrait hole and Harry followed. Now it was just Ron and Alexis.

"I'm sorry about what I said before Alexis." He was staring at the floor, obviously ashamed about the comment he had made. She was also starting at the floor.

"You don't have to apologize Ron, you didn't know, it wasn't your fault."

"You know, I did want to ask you to the dance, but I really thought you were going with someone else. But now that I know you aren't, I was wondering if you would like to be my date to the ball?" She looked up at him and smiled warmly.

"I'd love to go with you." He returned her smile when she said that. Alexis looked at her watch and saw that it was almost seven. People should be coming back here to get ready about now. 

About a half an hour later, mostly every guy in Gryffindor was in the common room. The girls were upstairs in their dorms putting on make up or the final touches on their robes. Hermione walked down the stairs with Alexis and looked even more stunning in her robe than she did the year before, except now, she filled it out a bit more in the right places. Her hair was also done up the same way it had been before too. It was up in a bun and smoothed with hair gel. Her make up was light, a little bit of light pink lipstick and some light blue eye shadow. Along side her was Alexis in a medium dark blue dress with silver hemming. The dress went down to just below her ankles. The sleeves were long and had a hook that wrapped around her middle finger on each hand. The dress was a v-neck. The material gathered at the back of her dress around her waist and tied at the back. The colour of the dress accentuated her eyes. Her hair was worn so that only the top half was up, the rest of her blonde hair fell to the middle of her back. She had a silver choker around her neck. She wore lip-gloss and silver eye shadow. Some of the guys in Gryffindor had wished that they had asked Hermione or Alexis to the ball at the moment. When they got to the main part of the common room, Alexis gave a small wave to Hermione as she went to meet her date for the ball. Alexis walked over to where Harry and Ron were standing. Harry was wearing a robe that looked much like the school uniforms, except that it was the colour green. It did accentuate his eyes though. Ron, on the other hand, was wearing a maroon coloured robe that looked like it used to have something sewn onto the collar and cuffs, but had been ripped off. Ron had only stopped tugging at the robe when Alexis had come down the stairs.

"Wow!" was all they could say. Alexis smiled.

"I take it you like my robe?" They both nodded and Alexis blushed slightly. 

"Well, I have to go get Lisa, so I'll see you two at the ball." He left the room with a quick wave. Ron and Alexis decided to start making their way down to the great hall, but they walked there slowly to kill time.

As they were walking, neither of them were talking. Both seemed to be too nervous to say anything. Alexis finally decided to ask something that had almost slipped her mind.

"How well do you dance, Ron?" He looked surprised at her. He had forgotten that you were suppose to dance at a ball, and then blushed as red as his hair when he told her that he had never really danced before. She smiled understandingly. "Then I guess I'll just have to teach you then. The slow dances are the easiest, so we will just dance during them. How does that sound?"

"It sounds alright, I guess. But if I trod on your feet, you can't blame me, deal?"

"Deal," she said laughing. There was a crowd in front of the doors to the great hall. Nobody had been let in yet. They stood there looking for Harry and Hermione. They spotted them near the door on the left side with their dates, so they pushed their way through the crowd to get to them. They started talking about who they thought would be playing the music that night. Hermione was standing next to a boy who was only a little taller than her. He had dark blonde hair and light blue eyes. 'That must be Terry Boot,' thought Alexis. She looked over to Harry. Standing next to him was a girl with sleek black hair and dark eyes. 'She looks a little like a girl I saw who was in her sixth year,' thought Alexis. At exactly eight, the doors finally opened. All the students who were standing outside the doors poured into the room and quickly went to find good seats. On the platform where the teachers usually ate, there was musical equipment set up. There were a couple of different instruments there. There was a piano, a guitar, an ocarina, a harp, and a violin. As the students found seats, Dumbledore walked onto the platform and began to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts' Welcome-Back-Ball. I hope you all to be on your best behavior while still enjoying yourselves. There are refreshments over there," he pointed to a large table in a corner of the large room, "and seats for everyone to sit down on. The music for tonight will be performed by the group Wizards of the World. And just for fun, if you are asked to dance by anyone, you aren't allowed to say no. Have a wonderful time everyone!" He shook the hands of the five wizards who walked on stage before he walked off. All of the wizards were wearing different coloured robes. The five colours were red, blue, green, orange, and yellow. The one clad in red went and picked up the violin, blue went to the piano, green went to the ocarina, orange went to the harp, and lastly yellow went to the guitar. The first song they played was fast and catchy. It was called "Your Love is Like A Bludger." Hermione and Terry went off to dance, while Harry, Ron, Alexis, and Lisa stayed and just enjoyed the music. Considering the music was played by classical instruments, it didn't sound like it. When the song finally ended, a slow song began. Ron had been partially dreading this moment, but the Gryffindor bravery was with him that night, so he asked Alexis for a dance. He took her hand in his and led her to a spot on the dance floor.

"I don't know where to put my hands," he whispered blushing. She took his left hand and put it on her waist, and held his right hand with her left while putting her right hand on his shoulder. The song being played was called "You've Put Me Under Your Spell." As Ron Alexis moved to the rhythm, Alexis listened to the lyrics being sung.

_You've put me under your spell,_

_There's just nothing I can do. _

_If I try and get away_,

_You just pull me back to you._

_I can't live like this forever,_

_You know that someday you'll have to let me go._

_For now I might as well stay,_

_Because for some reason, I still love you so._

_I know you don't love me too,_

_I'm just a game to you._

_You've broke my heart so many ways,_

_That's turned black and blue._

_Why you're doing this,_

_Is still a mystery to me._

_But this spell of yours I'm under,_

_Will be over soon and I'll be set free._

_You've put me under your spell,_

_There's just nothing I can do. _

_If I try and get away_,

_You just pull me back to you._

By the end of the song, Alexis had put her head lightly on Ron's shoulder, and he had done likewise. Both of them had their eyes closed and were just swaying to the music. Ron, as he had warned her, had stepped on her feet, but only twice. As the music of that song faded and a new and faster song started, they looked at each other and smiled. They both walked back to their table hand in hand, and sat down. They started talking about the decorations around the room. The room was dimly lit. The ceiling was a dark blue colour with hundreds of shining stars. There were flower wreathes around white pillars right beside different places of the walls. The colours of the flowers were light colours such as lavender, pink, and blue. There was also a doorway leading to a garden. They could see some of the garden was lit by lanterns hung from the hedges. Harry and Lisa returned soon after they had sat down. They had brought a couple bottles of butterbeer with them and shared them with the two. There were a couple more fast songs before the band stopped playing to take a small break. Hermione and Terry came back and sat down, exhausted from dancing. The six of them talked about how nice the evening was going, which was almost perfect, had Draco and Co. not decided to come and talk to them.

"Well hello there Potty and friends. I hope you aren't enjoying your evening. Hey Weasley, isn't that the same rag you wore last year?" Behind him, Crabbe and Goyle grunted with laughter. Ron was starting to get out of his seat to attack Draco, but Alexis put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Ron, he wants you to be angry with him," she whispered to him. Ron leaned back into his seat, face red with fury.

"Well, well, well, it seems that Potter couldn't keep his girlfriend and now she's with his best friend." If looks could kill, Draco would have been dead times four from the looks Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Alexis gave him. They heard the music start back up again. It was a slow song. "Relax," he said smoothly, "I only came here to ask for a dance from Alexis." Alexis glared at him while the others had shocked looks on their faces. No one had expected that from him! 

"I'm not going to dance with you," she said flatly. From behind Draco came a voice.

"Yes you are Miss Silverstone. You heard Professor Dumbledore, you're not allowed to refuse a dance," said the voice slickly. It was Snape and he was had a malicious look on his face. He continued, "Unless of course you want me to have to take points away from your house." She just glared at him before she stood up and walked towards Draco. She gave an apologetic look at Ron and he gave her a sympathetic smile in return, but he was still furious with Draco and Snape. 

"I'm glad you saw things my way," said Draco grinning. He took her hand and led her to the floor. He put his hand firmly on her waist and they started swaying to the music. Alexis tried to look anywhere but at him. She could see other couples that were dancing look her way as she danced with him. The song seemed to go on forever. Draco kept looking her up and down as they danced, and that made her uncomfortable. The song had finally ended and she moved to get away, but his hand was still firmly on her waist.

"I danced with you, now let me go," she said annoyed.

"I know, but I just want to stay with you a little longer, please?" he had a pleading look on his face. She figured it wasn't very often that he begged for things since he could have almost anything he wanted because of the wealth of his father. But just because he tried to make himself look pathetic didn't mean that she was going to go along with it. She swiftly took his hand off her waist and quickly walked back to her friends' table. She could hear him cursing behind her. When she got there, Harry, Ron, and Lisa were laughing about something.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Snape's own excuse for you to dance with Malfoy backfired on him. Madam Hooch asked him to dance before he could get away, so he was stuck dancing with her," laughed Harry. Alexis laughed too as she sat in her seat next to Ron. She told them about Draco's feeble attempt to make her dance some more with him and they laughed some more. There was one more song before the end of the dance and it was a slow song. Ron and Alexis went and danced to the song, which was called "Faster Than The Wind." 

_When you're around, _

_My heart beats fast like it was hit with a jolt._

_It moves faster than the wind, _

_Faster than a Firebolt._

_No one can ever compare to you, _

_You are one of a kind._

_You smell like flowers in a meadow,_

_And taste sweeter than honey from a hive._

_You move like a cat,_

_With grace and speed._

_But you act like a kitten,_

_All kindness and no greed._

_As you sing your song,_

_Your voice heals my soul and gives me a start._

_As I listen to your words,_

_They just melt my heart._

_When you're around, _

_My heart beats fast like it was hit with a jolt._

_It moves faster than the wind, _

_Faster than a Firebolt._

And then the music just died away. Everyone started clapping for the group as they bowed onstage. Everyone walked out of the great hall and to his or her respective houses. Harry left to walk Lisa back to her common room and Terry offered to walk Hermione back to hers. The Gryffindors reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, walked in, and said goodnight to one another. 

"Goodnight Ron," said Alexis as she gave him a light kiss on the cheek before walking with Hermione up to their dorm. Ron smiled to himself as he sat down to wait for Harry. Ron grinned when Harry returned ten minutes later when he saw that Harry had some lipstick on his lips that appeared to be the same colour that Lisa Turpin had been wearing that evening.

                                                                                    ~*~

Well, there was the second chapter. As you can tell, I changed the name of the entire story because I didn't like it. It took me only a day to write this story. I started at about 4 pm and I'm finishing it now at 2:30 am. Please read and review and if you have time, check out my other story. Oh! And the lyrics of the songs sung by the group were made up by me, that's why they are so bad. Hope you like this chapter, I'll start writing the next chapter when I feel inspired. Until next time, buh bye!


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